


Astra Inclinant

by Ramonaflowersz



Category: The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Major Character Undeath, Reader-Interactive, Science Fiction & Fantasy, i guess?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-14
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-26 16:42:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6247657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ramonaflowersz/pseuds/Ramonaflowersz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Astra inclinant, sed non obligant - The stars incline us, they do not bind us, and in this life, Pat chooses his own fate. (A reader-interactive story in which we ask ourselves: 'is changing fate always the right choice?')</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There it is! Chapter 1 of Astra Inclinant! HUGE thanks to Notvictor for editing, and all the moral support i needed to write the first chapter of this fic.  
>   
> Please keep in mind that every chapter will have a poll, do not forget to fill this one in, your vote may change fate forever!  
> (Voting expires 3 days after every chapter has been posted)

  
__ Weigh the risks against    
your guilt - at least you can say   
there had been a choice   
  
(It had always been   
either him or the others,   
who wants that option?) 

_ -  _ Not-haiku on Tumblr

_******* _

Being the new kid was never fun. 

Pat’s pinky finger brushed over his paper as he took notes, right in the first row of a tiny, cramped classroom. Small lectures were something he still hadn’t gotten used to; they were intimate, and they made it obvious to others that he often sat alone. Even now, he felt someone’s gaze burning into the back of his neck, or perhaps he was just nervous to be stared at in the first place.

Pat had introduced himself only a week ago. He was a new student who had been accepted into the school with a scholarship, excelling in about any subject the prestigious Ambrosia Academy had to offer. It was a grand opportunity, one that Pat had taken with eager hands. Unfortunately, he’d forgotten about the distance, an impressive 500 miles away from his entire family.

Everything was new, and Pat felt like it would take weeks before the first feelings of familiarity would settle in. For now, the most unpleasant feeling was one of simple loneliness. The friends he’d made at his previous school would sometimes humour him with a phone call at night, but that was about it.

Everyone here knew each other. There was a net weaved finely and thinly, bringing the students of the academy close together, and then there was Pat. Small, new, unknown, slipping right through it, unnoticed, unregarded.

There was a loud cough behind him. Pat turned around, only to be surprised by the speed and aim of a paper ball hitting his cheek. Pat had never been athletic, his response too slow as the paper ball fell onto the floor with a soft thud. He looked back to the front, trying to ignore the mean guffaws behind him. Their teacher had his back turned to them, of course.

It wasn’t that the paper ball had hurt, necessarily, but the message sent with it made it feel like a harsh slap to the face.

Pat swallowed and focused on his notes again, not giving the culprit any fun in his response.

As the teacher turned around, everyone was quiet once again, and Pat looked in wonder as the man scanned around the room.

His gaze came to a stop. “Chryseis, since you’re obviously already _so_ read up on the material that you’re not paying attention anymore, why don’t you tell me the average life of a red blood cell?"

Pat turned around to spot the girl in question. She was recognizable, as he’d briefly talked with her before during another class. She was a beautiful girl, with soft and childlike features. Her eyes, hazel brown, were looking cluelessly at the teacher. Pat noticed the dark circles under her eyes, the unkempt chestnut curls that reached past her shoulders, and felt quite bad for her. Nonetheless, he didn’t dare to say a word as the class focused on her.

“I-I don’t-”

The teacher interrupted her. Pat felt his own heart beat strongly in his chest at the sound of her breaking voice. “Anyone else who _did_ pay attention? What about you, Patroclus?”

“120 days on average,” he muttered. He heard someone audibly whisper an insult at him - he didn’t respond.

“Correct. Let Patroclus be an example for you all, especially _you,_ Chryseis.”

Pat decided not to look back at Chryseis anymore, in fear of making her embarrassment only worse.

_******* _

There was a collective sigh throughout the class when the bell rang. One student still held her breath, though, as Pat had noticed Chryseis was still sitting tensely in her seat as the people around her packed their books.

He didn’t remember her like this, solitary in her behaviour, quiet. He didn’t know much about her other than the brief introduction she had given him during the class icebreaker. If he remembered correctly, she was part of a sorority, a cheerleader for the football team, and religious beyond lifestyle venturing into passion.

She had been kind and inviting that day; she didn’t seem anything like it now.

Pat was almost at the door when he paused in his step. He gathered the small amount of courage he had left before he turned around, moving towards the row where Chryseis was still sitting.

He felt like he was moving through syrup. It was the perfect speed though, to see how she might respond to his approach.

She didn’t look up, didn’t even notice him until a few moments after he came to a stop in front of her desk. He saw her physically recoil at the sudden realization that someone was close to her.

Pat didn’t understand why. Even for a guy, he would never describe himself as threatening. He was tall, a little slender in his build, and he felt that his shoulders were hunched in uncertainty at approaching her. All by all, not really the most imposing figure in the room.

“I-I’m sorry, are you okay? It’s Chryseis, right?”

She stared at him quietly for a bit, then nodded. “Patroclus, right?”

It was an attempt at conversation, but Pat noticed that she was avoiding his gaze as much as possible. It seemed they were both trying to find a way out, now.

“It is. I just saw you were a bit out of it and I wanted to know if you’re alright, that’s all.”

Sometimes, all you needed was a listening ear.

Chryseis’s expression changed into a weak smile, shrugging softly. “Thanks for noticing, but I’m alright, just didn’t--you know, sleep well.”

Pat nodded, deciding that it wasn’t worth the discussion to point out she was clearly lying. It didn’t concern him, it was none of his business. “Well, if anything is wrong, don’t hesitate-”

“Nothing is wrong, but thank you anyway.”

And that was it. Pat took his possessions and walked out of class without saying another word. The tiniest hour-long break between classes was just enough time for him to do some grocery shopping. He’d rather not waste it helping someone who didn’t want it.

_******* _

The campus at Ambrosia Academy was one of the most beautiful things he’d ever walked on. The school’s advertisements hadn’t lied, it was luxurious and _dear god, Pat really didn’t feel like he belonged here._

He walked along a neatly-kept path in front of the Biology building, kicking against the small clay-like gravel beneath his old sneakers. If he didn’t have other responsibilities today, he’d be sitting on the grass beneath that old oak tree in the middle of campus - it was the center of attention. He’d read about its history; the tree had been planted when the school was first built, small and weak, but had grown to something that ended up giving one side of campus its name: _Red Oak Campus_. Pat walked past the bronze plate announcing the title, huffing casually as he tried to make a mental list of all the groceries he needed.

The campus wasn’t as neat as people might have assumed upon first glance. When the buildings had been renovated twenty years ago, Red Oak Campus had been done with the wish to keep its old image intact. This forced the renovators to keep the messy look of old-fashioned planning, which hadn't worked out in their favour.

One of Pat’s favourite things about Red Oak Campus was the abrupt cut between the buildings and the fenced area; right in the sun sat a thick strip of grass that people rarely sat on. At least, he’d never seen anybody sitting there whenever walked past.

If he had any clue of what was going on there, if he’d heard the hushed whispers there in the corner, hidden in the shadows, he’d have taken a different route.

Pat, as he always did, took one small peek down the little alleyway as he passed.

There were two figures in the corner. First, he just assumed them to be some teenagers messing around, unimpressed by them ruining yet another ‘sacred’ place he might have liked to sit.

Then he recognized one of the figures all too well.

Pat had received just about the entire school history in a booklet when he’d come to study here, but even if he hadn’t bothered to read the booklet, he’d still recognize the guy pinned against the wall: Achilles Pellides.

Their sports hall had an entire presentation cabinet dedicated to him. As an athlete, a sportsman in both football as track and field, he was an example to everyone who wanted so desperately to reach their goal. He’d won just about every match that had been thrown at him in the past three (!) years he’s been at the school.

He was about Pat’s age, but the distance between them couldn’t be greater. Pat hadn’t seen the guy even once since he’d started attending classes. He was certain that, on Ambrosia Academy’s social ladder, Achilles was way up while Pat still had to start on his first step.

Pat was lucky the two hadn’t spotted him yet. He returned back to the wall that separated him from them; something in his gut told him things weren’t going to be as innocuous as they seemed. He wasn’t about to let this stranger get away with bullying Achilles like this if anything serious was going to happen.

If he focused hard enough, he could overhear parts of the conversation.

“You..... Seen nothing.” It was said in a harsh whisper. Pat looked back at them to see that the stranger had a hand twisted in Achilles’ shirt, not understanding why Achilles wasn’t pulling away. He seemed stronger than the other boy, that was for sure.

“Hector... Don’t... this..”

Their bodies were hunched over something. Achilles’ dark blue varsity jacket was hiding it from sight, which didn’t necessarily help the situation, as Pat had no idea what was holding Achilles back.

“I have no choice!”

The shout came as a shock to both Pat and Achilles, who he saw physically recoil from it. Pat looked on with an open mouth when the back of Achilles’ head slammed against the cement wall, he barely responded.

“Okay... Okay... Just-..”

That wasn’t the only surprise. Pat’s questions about the object between them was finally answered: It was black and smaller than he’d ever expected it to be. He had, technically, never seen one in real life.

It was a gun, and it was pointed right at Achilles’ stomach.

It doused him with fear. Pat breathed heavily as he looked away from the alley, searching for campus security to help, but no one was there, not even a student who might be able to come to his aid. Pat cursed to himself - he needed someone to help Achilles!

The brief moment Pat had taken his eyes away from them had been enough for the situation to change. He was forced to look back again when he heard the sounds of a struggle, the sounds of shuffling footsteps and curses.

“FUCK!”

The guys were fighting. It seemed Achilles had finally panicked that Hector might snap and shoot him, as he was now trying to wrestle the gun out of his hands. Pat just stood there, watching helplessly as Achilles pushed the guy’s shoulder trying to get him to the floor. It worked, but Achilles followed. Pat heard the sounds of two bodies falling harshly to the floor, the grunts that came with it, and then...

The sound of a gunshot.

Everything got very slow all of a sudden. Pat saw it all in vivid detail, eyes wide open in shock. He saw the two bodies halt, saw Achilles look down, his lips still parted on a word.

And he saw the blood gushing from his chest wound. Pat saw where it had hit him, and he knew it was a definite death sentence. If the bullet had not found Achilles’ heart, it had punctured a lung, for sure.

This couldn’t be real, he was witnessing a murder right in front of him. Pat realized he wasn’t even hiding anymore, standing there out in the open. When had he moved? He saw emerald eyes focus on him briefly, before they went blank. Then, as if the strings of a puppet were cut, Achilles’ body fell lifelessly on top of Hector.

Pat felt his heart beating out of his chest, his hands shaky, and he felt his body giving in to the dizziness. He recognized that he was going to faint, closing his eyes and waiting for the moment he’d wake up disoriented, dizzy, nauseous. Achilles would still be dead.

Something entirely different happened, though.

Nausea was unavoidable. It was the first thing Pat noticed as he opened his eyes, but slowly, it became more and more clear to him where he was.

He was sitting up. He felt the wooden seat beneath him, against his back. He heard murmuring behind him similar to something he’d heard before.

_No._

_Not similar, exactly the same._

Pat looked around the classroom in wonder, forcing himself to quiet his breathing. He was trying his best to remain as calm as possible - but how could he? He had just witnessed a murder!

He felt his hand shaking, the one holding a pen, and he looked down at his notes. Maybe it was best to see where they were in the lesson, maybe...

Pat recognized his notes. They were half-finished, exactly the same as what he’d written earlier.

_What was going on?_

It was like he was replaying the same exact afternoon all over again, as if this was a cruel dream.

Pat pinched himself. It hurt.

This really wasn't a dream, then. But if it wasn't a dream…

Pat heard a cough behind him, loud and distracting. He remembered it.

Taking a brief moment to gather up his courage, he turned around to face the culprit. As expected, and as it had happened before, a paper ball was shot at his face.

He caught it, if not a little clumsy. He stared pointedly at the culprit before turning around.

There wasn't any laughing this time.

If he hadn’t just experienced a murder, Pat would have been proud of himself. He’d shown a bully that he wasn't to be messed with, and all by all, it was a little cool that he could redo his previous mistakes.

Had he really gone back in time?

Everything went the same as before. Pat watched on as the teacher looked around, and he knew that the man was about to call Chryseis out for not paying attention.

Maybe he could.. raise his hand...

“Chryseis-”

“Um, teach?”

The man looked at Pat, obviously annoyed that he’d been interrupted.

“I’m sorry, but I think I forgot to write something down. What part gives blood its red colour?”

The teacher sighed. Some people chuckled behind him because, yes, that was basic information. He decided he’d rather have that, than to see Chryseis get chided in front of the entire class again.

“Hemoglobin, Patroclus. Please keep up on your readings.”

“Yes, sir.”

To his amusement, the man didn't go after Chryseis. When Pat turned around to see how she was doing, he saw the smallest touch of relief on her face.

If he could change fate like this, though, wouldn't he be able to…

Pat felt his nauseousness roll over into nervousness.

Would he be able to save Achilles?

_******* _

Pat spent the rest of class staying awfully still as he listened to the exact same information be repeated like it was on a record player. He gave himself permission to not pay too much attention, as he’d already heard most of it anyway.

Nothing had really changed from such small differences, he noticed.

The bell rang at the same moment as before. Pat joined the collective sigh that went throughout the class, but he didn't move to leave with them.

Chryseis was still sitting in her seat, passively gazing ahead at the board.

Although every single part of him wanted to run out of class, to warn Achilles of what was to come, there was just something about the girl he couldn't let go.

He moved over to her, as slow as before, making sure he was in sight _before_ he stood right next to her desk. She didn't give him a look of surprise this time; instead, when she looked up, it was expectant.

“Hey Chryseis. I'm sorry to interrupt you, but you just seem a little, out of it, and I was wondering if you needed anything?”

This time, Chryseis gave Pat the smallest smile. He wondered if this had helped his situation, even if Chryseis didn't know the other way it had happened.

“Just a bit of a bad day--no, week. I'll be fine, Pat. Thank you.”

He gave her a small, pitying smile. “Alright, just, if you need my help, I'm here.” She nodded.

And Pat left.

He retraced his steps ever so slowly, leaving the building with the knowledge of what he was about to walk into. This was the moment where a person who actually knew what they were doing would have called security, alerted the police.

But Pat was not that person. He was too distracted. All he remembered was the gun. All he remembered was how he could physically see the life seeping out of Achilles' body.

He’d stop them, even if he had only one chance to do it.

Pat crept towards the alleyway as quietly as possible, listening to a repeat of the argument going on. He had no idea how long his heart had been beating so harshly in his chest. If he didn't know any better, he’d say it was audible 

_But what now?_

Pat cursed himself for not calling security. He wasn't sure whether or not he would have a second chance to travel back in time; the first time was surreal enough.

With shaking hands, he grabbed his phone, opening the camera app when he finally found it. He didn't have much time left.

“I have no choice!”

There. The gun was made visible by Achilles' recoil, which Pat witnessed with great pain at the knowledge of what was coming next.

Pat took a quick picture of the situation, slipping it safely back into his pocket as he stood there. Only a moment until Achilles would push Hector back, and…

 

_What was he ever going to do to change Achilles' fate?_

*******

[**Vote here**](http://strawpoll.me/6989566)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, It's been a while, hasn't it? This is still something I'm really proud of, so i didn't just want to abandon it!  
> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and again, **Don't forget to vote at the end! Your choice will decide how the story goes!**

Pat wished his steps would come as quick as they did before, a simple flash and he would be in front of him, but now, he found himself hesitating in his steps. Everything was too slow when someone’s life depended on it, and Pat was terrified that his chance to save Achilles was limited to this redo. Then again, he thought, a second chance was more than most people received.

Achilles, once again, muttered softly towards the stranger, having just slammed the back of his head against the wall because of his flinch. “Okay, okay, just…”

“Hey!”

Pat didn't know how he'd stood there for so long without Achilles nor the stranger noticing him; for someone who was carrying an illegal firearm, he thought the stranger would be more cautious.

They both responded to Pat’s shout, one he was surprised came out of his own mouth. He wanted to cower away more than ever from the look he got from the stranger, which was anything but glad. Instead, Pat just thrived on the look of pure relief on Achilles' face - someone had come to save him.

“Are you-are you nuts?! I don't know what this is about but I’m gonna call security if you don't get that gun off his chest!”

The stranger’s grip weakened in such a way that Achilles was able to gain control again. With one powerful shove, the stranger was laid on the ground at their feet, his gun discarded on the floor. Achilles snatched it up before the stranger could get to it, but didn't make a move to point it at him.

“FUCK YOU!”

The stranger’s shout was forceful, and this time, it was Pat’s turn to flinch.

Achilles suddenly seemed a lot more sure of himself, his eyes narrowed with a certain anger, yet... Something was holding him back. Pat was sure that the stranger would’ve been left bleeding out on the concrete if it wasn't for Achilles’ restraint.

There was a moment of shuffling footsteps and soft huffing. Pat didn't know what would happen next, but he was frozen in place waiting for it to unfold. Then, it suddenly seemed clear to him: two against one? That was never gonna work out.

“You better watch your fuckin’ back, the both of you!” the stranger snapped. Achilles didn't even bother to respond, a good choice, though Pat saw him rub the side of the gun absentmindedly as a small threat just in case.

Then, the stranger made a beeline right through Pat, who hadn’t expected him to be so confrontational. The shove was not enough to throw him off-balance, but it wasn’t weak either.

Before he knew it, he and Achilles were alone in the little alleyway. Achilles finally let his shoulders drop in relief. Pat was still rubbing the spot that had come into confrontation with Hector’s shoulders. Right, that was his name, _Hector._

Achilles muttered something while checking the back of his head gingerly with his fingers.

“I'm sorry?”

Achilles' gaze snapped to him again, as if Pat was only just interrupting the entire event.

“I called him an asshole.”

There were many questions floating through Pat’s head, one definitely concerning the gun that Achilles still had in his hands; Pat didn't expect him to let go any time soon.

“Thank you, by the way,” Achilles said.

Pat hadn’t expected it to be so delayed, shrugging at him, only now really regarding him from another point of view: Achilles was here, breathing, talking, _alive._ He had succeeded in saving his life, though Achilles was simply thanking him for getting him out of that scuffle.

“You're welcome, I don't wanna imagine what could have happened if no one was around to stop this.”

“Oh, probably nothing.” For the first time, Achilles' expression changed a little, and he now seemed mildly amused. Pat wondered if he himself still looked as shaken as he felt. “Hector likes to threaten, but I have yet to see him do more than boast.”

That confirmed his name then. Pat wasn't sure why it felt familiar.

Achilles seemed to have noticed his confusion, a scowl on his face that suggested that even thinking about Hector was like tasting something bitter.

“Hector’s family practically owns most of this town, gets that asshole’s chin raised up all high, you know the kind.”

“I took a picture of him pointing the gun at you.”

Pat said it and instantly cursed himself for ignoring Achilles’ explanation, but to his surprise, Achilles simply scoffed.

“Hang it on your wall, it wouldn’t surprise me if the police accused you of photoshopping in a gun to fuck up his reputation.”

Pat fell quiet, putting his phone back in his pocket and looking at Achilles for a moment. _So that had all been for nothing then?_

“What was this about anyway?”

Achilles had taken to checking out the gun while Patroclus reevaluated his photo-taking plan. Achilles’ expression turned into a frown, his lips forming a thin line as he moved to put the gun in his bag. Pat didn't dare to suggest anything else; he wasn’t in a position to advise Achilles on anything.

“Just a small fight, nothing important.”

“Well, apparently it was important enough for him to pull a gun-”

“Even if it was important, it's none of your business,” Achilles interrupted, his voice raised.

 

Like he said, not his position to judge or advise.

 

In fact, it would have been none of his business, right? Yet something was creeping in the back of his head, a dangerous thought he’d rather not linger on for too long.

Whatever beef Hector had with Achilles, Pat was now a part of it.

 

_******* _

 

They were quiet for a little while, neither of them finding the right words to end the conversation. This event had brought them together in unexpected ways, and Pat almost didn’t dare let the moment end.

Achilles, however, cleared his throat.

“I need to go now, thanks for standing up for me.”

“Don't you mean ‘thank you for saving my life’?” Pat said softly.

  
Achilles didn’t really respond to it, but Pat saw the slightest raise of an eyebrow.

“Sure, whatever you say.”

He couldn’t blame Achilles for being a little out of it. He had always considered Achilles to be the golden boy, the shining example of what every parent wanted their son to be, but no one could be like that at every time of their lives.

 

_Especially not after such a close brush with death._

 

Achilles left the alleyway after a short nod. Pat took a brief moment to look back at the spot he had seen Achilles’ body splayed on the ground. It now seemed like only a distant memory, something he wanted to forget. After a shake of his head and a promise to himself to never go back to the alleyway, Pat left as well.

 

_******* _

 

The events of the day had completely brought Pat out of his rhythm, and it took a long time of _staycalmstaycalmstaycalm_ before he was even able to normally put his key in the hole to unlock his dorm room, his shaky hands making the metal clatter together. Once he was inside, he finally gave in to the adrenaline.

He couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe he had saved a guy from a bullet, and that he had seen him die just seconds before. Pat felt like he had created life where there had been death, so why did it feel like a such a mistake?

What the heck was going on?

Pat couldn't remember how he had done it - that was the worst part of it all. Was this a one time deal? If so, _holy shit,_ that gun could be pointed at him next!

Pat held his hands out, trying to remember what he had done to trigger the succeeded rewind, but nothing specific came to mind. He had been too shocked to be conscious of his actions, something he really couldn't blame himself for...

“C’mon...”

He decided to sit down on his bed, focusing on the old alarm clock on his bedside table. He concentrated on the red numbers, biting his bottom lip as his eyebrows knit together. His fingers stretched once, maybe twice... Did he feel something tugging back?

The red number went from 11:15 to 11:16, as if teasing him.

 

_Of course._

 

Pat sighed, flopping down to sit on his bed as he glanced at the alarm clock. He rubbed his fingers together as if it might charge up, like voltage? He aimed his fingers at the numbers.

Yeah, no, nothing happened.

Oh well, at least he had managed to save Achilles.

Pat just continued to stare unhappily at the alarm clock; nothing had happened, and the red numbers jumped from 11:16 to 11:17.

Yeah, maybe it was time to just get on with his life. He really needed some bread for lunch, anyway.

 

_******* _

 

The heavy artificial lighting of the campus’ supermarket flashed uncomfortably into Pat’s eyes. It wasn't all that bad, because usually the only thing it ever did was make the pressure behind his eyes heavier after a long day.

Now, it just made his mind fuzzy. Pat squinted at whatever was in front of his eyes, wondering if this was the moment he finally admitted he needed to get glasses.

The blinking and rubbing into his eyes didn't work, so he moved on. Nothing to be done about it and, quite frankly, he really needed some food. His stomach disagreed a little, Pat assumed it came with the nerves.

He huffed as he dropped a bag of potatoes in his shopping basket.

Pat made his way over to the fruits and vegetables, looking at the impressively stacked pyramid of apples. He wondered how many times the shopkeepers had been taught a lesson on how students really shouldn’t be trusted with big stacks of products, especially when it could come crashing down.

Example A: Patroclus.

Pat turned himself around, still slightly distracted with the memories of the entire ordeal in the alleyway, as he totally forgot about the shopping basket in the crook of his arm.

It hit the side of the stack of apples. For a brief moment, it almost seemed like nothing would happen, but then, with a sound that was even louder than the background music, it all came crashing down.

  
Pat kneeled, trying his best to save as many apples from cracking. Nonetheless, he saw some of them break open, their yellow-ish insides leaving a heavy sweet scent.

 

“Fuck.”

 

Pat knew people were staring at him, but he wasn’t staring back. He really had something better to focus on.

There was something else in his vision outside of the apples and his discarded shopping basket, something he sensed only now.

Pat moved his hand, marveling at what was inexplicably the sensation of weight around the blurry part of his vision. The blurriness, which had previously been covering his eyes, was now only to be found swirling around his right hand.

“Sir, are you okay?”

Pat's head snapped up to look into the concerned face of a soft-faced girl, trying to smile but knowing it felt forced; she didn't look very happy with him either.

“I'm fine.”

He looked at it again, the sensation of the blurriness reminding him of the resistance of wind, but something felt different about this.

He was _holding_ it.

Next to him, the girl was already trying to salvage some of the unbroken apples while he tried to wrap his head around the oddness of this situation.

Then, as if the pressure was tiring for the blur, the sensation in his right hand slowly faded away.

No!

Pat put his hand forward, pushing against the invisible force, and even the sudden dizziness that overwhelmed him wasn’t able to distract him from the things that were happening in front of his eyes - it was like the blurry rewinding of a video tape as Pat saw the apples return to their previous spot. The girl, first kneeling next to him and cleaning up the apples, was now nowhere in sight, and best of all-

As if getting hit on the back of his head, a sudden headache caused the feeling to subdue, and Pat was forced to put his hand down, the sharp lighting now not only hurting his eyes, but also causing a sharp pain in his temples.

From the corner of his eyes, he could see the consequences of his work; the apples were neatly stacked as a pyramid, with the employee nowhere in sight.

And the best thing was, the blurry part of his vision had not yet disappeared. It was right there, right in the corner of his eyes, like a water drop on a camera’s lens. Pat had to force himself from acting too flabbergasted about a stack of apples, proceeding to examine them a bit thoroughly this time, taking the top one as a trophy before he walked off.

There is a certain weight in every decision that you cannot change later on - the risk of it being the wrong choice, the doubts of whether or not you’re about to ruin something forever.

And now, with that weight lifted from Pat’s shoulders, the world seemed just a little lighter as he walked out of the grocery store, his hands itching to figure out whatever this was.

 

**_***_ **

 

The headache, strong enough to make Pat wince, had disappeared during his walk back to his dorm. Maybe it was for the best, since Pat needed quite some time to figure out what he was going to do now. This all seemed straight out of a movie, which wasn't always a good thing.

Because if there was one thing such movies had taught him, it was that messing with time was never a good idea.

But Achilles was alive, Achilles was breathing again, he was one soul saved from a horrible end, how could something like that _ever_ be seen as a bad thing?

Pat thought this over as he sat on his bed, turning the apple in his hand as he dug his nail in the shiny skin, looking at it in wonder. It had been broken once, the realization was still tough to grasp.

He dropped it, the apple too ripe to show any damages, and Pat clicked his tongue.

_What if...._

He stood up onto his bed, holding the apple higher over the floor, before dropping it again.

This time, a loud bang was accompanied with a soft cracking sound, and Pat examined the crack in the bright red skin from where he was standing.

Holding his hand once again in front of him, he reached for the pressure he had felt previously, and with a firm pull, he witnessed the apple go back into his hand, perfect and untouched once again except for the half-moon shape of his nail.

It was fascinating, to say in the least, but something else was rumbling in his chest. The need to jump, to run, to shout it from the rooftops. He had just _defied time_ , the power right within his reach to do something never deemed possible.

The question of _how_ wasn’t even important anymore, because the question of ‘what now?’ was far more exciting.

The possibilities were endless, it seemed. Pat could do whatever and try out anything he wanted. The sudden threat of social interaction and being the new kid suddenly didn’t seem all that bad when you could just give it a second try. This was, in fact, just what he needed.

He wanted to figure things out further, but first, his stomach was definitely complaining for some food before his next class.

 

**_***_ **

 

The ability to walk through the hallways with ease was a foreign concept to Pat, especially when he had to walk to a classroom in the main building. The main building was often crowded, which made sense, considering the amount of large lecture halls it had compared to the other buildings. Now, late in the afternoon, Pat got to see the building almost completely empty. Maybe the teacher should delay their classes more often.

Pat managed to find the classroom far easier this time. The steady stream of people was now not hiding the teacher’s name plaque from view.

Nonetheless, Pat found himself fumble with his phone to double-check the classroom number. The delay in his steps gave him an opportunity to become familiar with his surroundings, and from the corner of his eyes, Pat recognized the colour combination of a football jersey.

A pair of eyes locked with Pat as he checked it out further, the grey in Hector’s eyes darkening at the sight of Pat and, within seconds, a scowl crossed Hector’s face. It seemed to be a warning, a warning to stay far out of his way. Pat, however, saw the blond curls of Achilles right in front of him, and felt the worry bubble up in his chest once again.

_Should he...?_

A bell rang, and from a classroom came a group of students, some who greeted Hector with pleasant smiles. Hector’s demeanor changed almost instantly, and he smiled at them, making a turn to talk to one of the students.

Pat wondered what would have happened to Achilles if those students hadn’t turned up. Maybe it was best to just not think too much about it-

A small tap on Pat’s shoulder made him turn around to come face to face with one of his fellow students.

Briseis, one of the only students whose name he still remembered, raised an eyebrow at Pat, nodding at the door of the classroom. “Is it alright if I go in?”

“Of course.” Pat needed a moment to find the words, quickly jumping away from the door to let Briseis enter. Briseis huffed and went inside without a second glance, clearly not impressed by him.

Pat, now less confident in his steps than he was earlier, entered the classroom as well with hunched shoulders. Even if he was tempted to try his rewinding powers, it wouldn’t make him forget the encounter, nor would it make the fate of Achilles less worrying in the future. Hector seemed like he would keep trying, and with that knowledge, Pat couldn’t help but let out a defeated sigh as he sat down in one of the school benches.

Pat spent most of his time just thinking things through as he watched student after student fill the classroom. The lecture soon started, yet he was still preoccupied with his own thoughts.

Pat took a moment to inspect his hand, the sensation of a force unknown to him still just in the reach of his fingertips, ready to grasp and change time if he really wanted to. It seemed like a power he didn’t deserve to possess; again, there were so many movies that warned against revising history, but what if...  
  
“Pat.”

Pat looked up from the desk that he had been staring at, humming softly towards the teacher to show her that he had definitely noticed her saying his name. “Yes?” 

“Could you answer the question for me?”

“Uhm, could you repeat the question?”

She didn’t even have to roll her eyes for Pat to know that she was already exasperated by his presence. The tone of her voice seemed like enough.

“Could you explain to us what a gravitational collapse is?”

Hell no he couldn’t.

“I’m sorry, I can’t.”

“Alright, Briseis?”

“Gravitational collapse is when an object’s internal pressure is insufficient to resist another object’s gravitational pull.”

“Correct.”

Briseis stared at Pat pointedly, and Pat suddenly realized how Chryseis must have felt last lecture. Embarrassment, and even a bit of spite that Briseis got to win in an imaginary battle of wits.

Pat’s fingers gripped the blur in front of him, and before he knew it, the clock above the smartboard in the lecture room had turned back a few minutes.

Pat waited for the teacher to call on him again, still looking pointedly at his desk in case she was just out to embarrass him.

“Pat?”  
“Hm..?”

“Could you answer the question, please?”

“Of course.” The lecturer raised an eyebrow, Pat ignored it.

He just repeated what Briseis had said, glancing at her briefly, as if she could even remember the previous time this had happened.

“Gravitational collapse is when an object’s internal pressure is insufficient to resist another object’s gravitational pull.”

“Correct. Apologies, I thought you weren’t paying attention, but you clearly are.”

“Of course.”  
  
She continued, and Pat looked down at his hand. He could get used to this.

 

**_***_ **

****

Seeing Achilles twice in one day was already quite special for Pat. He almost never saw him normally, but now that Pat was paying attention to his presence, he could find him everywhere. Pat had been walking through the library casually looking for a book about the topic his lecturer had talked about, only to find a small group of the team sitting around one of the tables.

They seemed to be in quite a discussion, but Pat couldn’t resist walking past them for a moment to try listening in on whatever they were talking about. Unfortunately, it didn’t work like he had wanted it to.

Pat felt Achilles stare at him from the moment he walked past the table, and man, it sucked. He really wasn’t trying to follow him around everywhere, but something kept pulling him towards the table, towards his sharp green stare. Pat didn’t know if he was only doing it for his self-proclaimed title as Achilles’ bodyguard.

  
After having found the book with shaking hands, all Pat could do was rush out of there, but just before he could open the door, it was opened from the other side quite harshly. Pat had to jump out of the way so it didn’t end up hitting him in the face. Hector looked at him, giving the same scowl he had given him in the school’s hallway previously.

  
Meeting Achilles three times a day was rare, but meeting Achilles _and_ Hector in the same area three times in one day was severely worrying to Pat.

 

_Yeah, that ain’t right._

*******

Pat, feeling very very stubborn, decided that this wasn’t the end of it. Something else was going to happen today; it felt like a dark cloud had been cast over the three of them, a thunder ready to strike and kill.

In this case, that thunder was probably Hector.

There was a small bench outside of the library that was just close enough that Pat could still see inside. It wasn’t as if he needed an excuse for sitting there, either, as it was nicely positioned in the sun. He decided to sit down and read the book he had just borrowed, sometimes looking up to peek inside the library.

An hour passed, and then another hour before Achilles left the library with some of his friends. The first thing Achilles did was look around, which automatically sealed Pat’s fate. Pat received such a glare that made him realize he should probably rush away before Achilles could get to him.

His fingers almost instinctively reached out for the blur, but a hand on his shoulder interrupted his focus, and Pat found himself being pulled up before he could even protest. Achilles was stronger than him anyway, there was no way Pat could fight against him. He didn’t know what he had been expecting to happen, but this was definitely not the most desired result.

“What’s your fuckin’ deal?” Achilles was now holding him by his sleeve, his chest forward. He tried to be as imposing and threatening as he could towards Pat, but after all that had happened, he didn’t expect Achilles to lose his dignity and actually physically harm him.

“I was just... Studying-”

“Bullshit! You’ve been following me all day!”

Yeah okay, Achilles had seen him more than ever before today, but that didn’t necessarily mean he was following him, right?

“I’m not the only one who’s following you,” Pat muttered.

“ _Excuse me?”_

Pat looked up, trying to gather a bit of courage, but as he looked into the sharp green eyes of the student athlete, he suddenly forgot how to speak.

“I’m not following _you_.”

 

Right.

“Who are you following, then?”

 

Well, technically, he was following Hector, wasn’t he?

“Hector.”

 

For some reason, this seemed to unnerve Achilles even more, who put his hand firmly against his forehead, huffing out a breath.

“For fuck’s sake, didn’t I tell you mere _hours_ ago that you should keep your nose out of this shit?”

“I-I know, but-”

“But what?”

Achilles’ hand reached forward, finding its grip on Pat’s collar, and Achilles pulled him in closer.

 

And shit, maybe Achilles was planning to kick his ass. He seemed very on-edge. Pat didn’t dare to look away from his gaze.

 

Yeah, Pat couldn’t really explain what had been going on, but with Hector following Achilles around after having threatened him with an honest-to-god _gun_ the other day, Pat sure as hell knew that something was going on between them. Pat would blame himself if anything happened to Achilles now, because Pat knew he would’ve had the power to stop it from happening.

That was why Pat needed to stay close, simply because he wasn’t sure how far his powers reached. What if he only found out about Achilles dying _hours_ after it happened? What if his powers never reached that far? He’d blame himself forever.

He suddenly realized why time-traveling powers were definitely not at all fun. He wasn’t wise enough, wasn’t able to make the right measurements of weights on his decisions.

 

_Should he tell Achilles?_

But what could he possibly tell him?

No matter what he said, Achilles would still think Pat was following him. And there was, of course, the huge chance that Achilles would think that Pat had simply lost his mind.

 

  _Or should he just lie?_

He could just say that he wished the best for Achilles, that he wanted to protect him. But how could someone like Patroclus, the awkward and quiet new kid in town, do anything that Achilles couldn’t? Their last encounter had been dumb luck, and he couldn’t keep thriving on the idea that he could potentially mean anything to Achilles outside of his newly-gained powers. It would only piss Achilles off. He had to admit, it did sound arrogant for Pat to think he could control his fate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Vote here! VOTING WILL CLOSE AFTER THREE DAYS](https://strawpoll.com/94rgyag%20)   
> 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With a new school year and everything happening all at once, I found some distraction in writing Astra again, and good news! (or bad)  
> The decisions that you'll make will not only affect short-term story lines, but also the ending! Please be conscious of these as you vote for Achilles' and Patroclus' fates! <3  
>  **Do not forget to vote by clicking the link at the end of the fic! Your vote will decide how the story goes!**

The tension between Pat and Achilles was palpable. Pat tried to grasp the front of his collar to stop the fabric from digging into the back of his neck. He felt helpless, like a kitten held by its mother. 

“But I don’t wanna have the same happen as last time.” Pat felt something stir in his chest, the fear and the trauma of experiencing a murder. The grip on his collar weakened briefly; it seemed to have caught Achilles off-guard for just a moment.

“It’s not gonna happen again, and if it did, you sure as hell wouldn’t be able to fix it.”

Well, he was wrong there, wasn’t he? Maybe it was finally time to tell Achilles just how wrong that actually was. 

“I-I know this is gonna sound weird, but I think I’m the only one who can.”

Achilles gave him a look again. Pat feared he could throw his shirt out by the end of the day, because it had become Achilles’ personal stress ball. “Oh yeah? Enlighten me, Patroclus.” It sounded mocking, but Pat grit his teeth.

“When Hector shot you-” Achilles was already breathing in, ready to interrupt and state that he hadn’t been shot.

“-hold on. When Hector shot you, something happened. I dunno what exactly, I have yet to figure it out, but before I knew it I was back in my biology class, which I had just left when I came across you and Hector.”

That hadn’t succeeded in calming Achilles down. In fact, he only seemed to get more pissed off by Pat’s words. “That’s when I stepped in, and since then, Hector has been following you everywhere and I just fear that if I don’t stay with you, he will try agai-”

Pat’s words were brutally interrupted by a sharp pain. It took him a second to gather his thoughts and think straight, only to fully come to terms with what had happened.

Achilles had punched him, right in the nose. Pat found himself with his lips parted, completely caught by surprise.

 

_ No, there had to be a better way. _

 

Pat’s hand reached out, grasping the pressure of thin air to rewind time, the sensation still unfamiliar to him as the scene reset itself.

And there he was again, ready to explain to Achilles why this was so immensely important, still trying to stop the fabric of his shirt from digging into his neck.

“Look Achilles, I know how weird this is about to sound, but can you please give me the benefit of the doubt?”

Achilles seemed unimpressed, but he weakened his grip by the look of fear Pat must have had on his face. Pat might not have a bloody nose now, but he sure as hell remembered the shock that had come with it. “Hurry up.”

“Hector was gonna shoot you. I know because I saw it happen and... I stopped it, the second time around, I mean. For some reason, I’m able to rewind time, and I think I can-”

Pat felt the way Achilles tensed this time. He saw his arm pull back, and with his own hand ready to stop it all, he leaned away, successfully dodging the hit.

“Achilles, please-”

Still feeling a bit excited that he dodged the first punch, Patroclus completely forgot Achilles could try again, and before he knew it he was back where he started, cupping his painfully bleeding nose.  _ Shit,  _ it seemed that Achilles had only hit him harder this time. 

Pat’s hand reached out again, and this time, the rewinding sensation was nauseating. He supposed his powers had its limits.

And there he was a third time with Achilles gripping the collar of his shirt, even more nervous knowing dodging wasn’t going to work.

“Achilles, I know this is all really unnerving and frustrating for you, but I have a valid reason for it, please just listen.”

Again, Achilles’ grip weakened slightly, allowing Pat to gather his words and courage. 

“I witnessed you being shot by Hector, Achilles. I know how weird it sounds, but I did.”

“I’m still here, completely uninjured.”

“I know, because of me.”

“Nothing was gonna happen.”

Pat was beginning to get annoyed, gripping the sensation once more, ready to rewind. 

“Achilles, that day, I managed to go back in time and save you.”

Achilles was getting annoyed again, but Pat, who had now experienced being punched in the face by Achilles  _ twice,  _ was not having it. “You’re gonna punch me again, aren’t you?”

“Patroclus, whatever you think you have or know, it isn’t something you can seriously consider a solution. You don’t know  _ shit  _ and I am not gonna pull someone else into this, even if they are as stupid as you to think they’re able to fucking  _ time travel _ .”

Pat knew how dumb it sounded. He knew that he sounded completely delusional, but that didn’t make it any less true. He  _ saved  _ Achilles’ life, and if going through this meant saving him again, then he’d happily continue doing it. 

“But I  _ can  _ time travel, I know it sounds dumb as hell and impossible, but I’m telling you I can-”

Another punch landed on his cheek, and Pat was beginning to get a little desperate.   


“For fuck’s sake, this is the  _ third  _ time, did you go into this conversation just looking for a reason to punch me?”

“Shut up.”

Achilles’ voice scared him more than the punch had. He had previously been calm, but now his voice was shaking, and so were his hands. Patroclus had never seen someone this angry, but there seemed to be something else, something he hadn’t seen since the moment Hector had shot him. 

 

_ Achilles was terrified.  _

 

“Achilles, I’m-”

“No, Patroclus, shut up. This isn’t something you want to be a part of. This isn’t a fucking joke, this is fucking serious, and if you think your weird sense of entitlement can make this any better, you’re fucking lying to yourself.”

Alright, loud and clear.

“I’m not joking.”

Pat feared his words would trigger Achilles into hitting him again, but to his pleasant surprise, he only got a scoff and a shake of his head directed at him.

“I’m out of here, this is  _ ridiculous.” _

And with that, Achilles left him. Pat found himself standing there, his nose clearly bleeding once more.

_ Fuck,  _ maybe rewinding time didn’t solve all problems, huh?

Pat reached out, his hands feeling the pressure in thin air, and as he tried reaching for more, something odd happened.

Well, not odd for anyone else, but for Pat, who was able to manipulate time, feeling nothing change as he did it was  _ definitely  _ odd.

He supposed there were limits, and this fate had been sealed.

Alright, how was he gonna get himself out of this situation?

 

_******* _

 

The sharp, piercing sound of an alarm clock rang in a new day for Patroclus, who had been comfortably asleep for about... three hours. Pat had been unable to sleep, too caught up in all the happenings of the day before. He had first thought his newfound powers would calm his anxiety, but in reality, his anxiety seemed to have only gotten worse.

Pat sighed, snoozing his alarm and grabbing his shower supplies, preparing for a day he wished would be far less eventful.

_ Well... maybe it was useless to wish. _

 

_******* _

 

Photography class, deemed by many as an easy-pass course, was a very popular elective, causing the teacher to seem in a constant state of exhaustion from keeping up with it. Pat looked on with pity as she explained the workings of an old-fashioned camera whilst surrounded by a bored audience all browsing on their laptops. This time, Pat had avoided his usual seat near the sportsmen, and had found a spot next to Chryseis once again. Chryseis still looked a bit shaken by something, but Pat decided not to bother her about it. He took it upon himself to answer any questions he could, in the hopes that it would stop the teacher from honing in on Chryseis.

“I swear to the gods above, Paris, shut the fuck up.” Pat glared at the source, almost immediately stopping once he saw who it was. Odysseus, his name was, and he was looking with pure disdain towards Paris, who started laughing in his face.

“Calm down Odie, it was just a joke.”

“Oh, just like your entire existence?”

Pat couldn’t help but scoff a little, immediately turning around once Paris glared his way. He had always been amused by Odysseus. He was sharp-tongued, in no way afraid of confrontation, which made him unpredictable and tough to fool. He knew Odysseus was on the same football team as Achilles, maybe they were even friends.

And then, something came up in the back of his mind,  _ a plan,  _ a way to convince Achilles that he hadn’t been joking about all of it. He just needed a few moments with Odysseus...

 

_******* _

 

“Hey, Hey! Odysseus?” Pat had immediately rushed over to Odysseus, trying to come across as calm as possible. He usually became quite nervous talking to Odysseus’ type - those who were very outgoing and confrontational. 

“Hm? Oh hi, you’re new.”

“I am, yes, I’m Patroclus. I was wondering, do you have Achilles’ number by any chance?”

“Achilles’ number? Oh I do, yeah. What about it?”

Oh yeah, shit. Maybe Pat should have thought of an excuse beforehand. “W-Well, I’m fairly new and the student office encouraged me to contact some of the representatives of the school, they told me to contact Achilles.”

Odysseus took a moment to answer, but then shrugged. “Anything that will cause Achilles a bit of trouble makes me happy! The kid sure does have a stick up his butt lately, here.”

Odysseus snatched Pat’s phone from his hands, filling in the phone number without consulting his own phone for a second.

“You have it memorized?”

“Pal, the amount of times I have written it on toilet stalls for the heck of it isn’t countable on two hands.”

Alright, good to know.

“Thanks.”

“No problemo.”

Pat left the classroom, feeling a rush of excitement as he tried to memorize the phone number as fast as he could. Then, once he could recall it like a mantra, it was time, he rewound time.

There he was, seated in the classroom, casually writing down Achilles’ phone number in his notebook and waiting till the bell rang. It was good to not leave any traces behind, and Odysseus would be better off not being pulled into this, Pat decided.

Pat grabbed his phone from his pocket, ready to enter Achilles’ phone number in his phone when he noticed something odd.

There, right below the A, was Achilles’ number.

 

_ Huh, this was gonna make things much easier. _

 

**_***_ **

 

The increasingly shorter hours of daylight marked the end of summer. Dusk came earlier, but the sportsmen were still practicing at the same time every evening like they weren’t bothered by it in the least. Ambrosia Academy’s sport fields were impressive, but not rare for a big school like this one. 

It didn’t take long for Pat to find Achilles. As one could imagine, he was busy attending track practice on one of the front fields. Pat didn’t particularly stand out, as many bored students had found a spot on the bleachers to have a chat and a drink after classes. Pat sat down on the edge of the bleachers, paying close attention to his surroundings, the notepad app open and ready.

Achilles talked with his coach for a bit, laughed with some friends Pat had seen around him earlier, but nothing noteworthy, all until he started running.

Pat held his breath as the students around him began cheering, and not for nothing. Achilles was deserving of titles, the speed at which he ran seemed to be almost natural to him, like it took more effort for him to be at a stand-still. Pat caught himself on the edge of his seat, eyes glued to Achilles’ figure, a hint of admiration coming over him. He thought once more about what had happened yesterday before he rewound time, realizing that any movement of Achilles was now a gift. He no longer held any doubt if it had been worth helping Achilles, even if he didn’t want to be helped.

“What’s his time?” he heard a girl call from next to him as Achilles finished, and the trainer shouted back, “Ten twenty five!”

“I can do better than that! Just you wait!” Achilles shouted. Pat smirked a little, that was all he needed to know.

Hiding behind the bleachers, Pat reached out his hand, gripping the familiar sensation and rewinding time until he was sure it would be enough. And there he sat, right on the bleachers once more, between all the people as he saw Achilles finish his sprint once more.

“What’s his time?” the girl next to him called, and before anyone would answer, Pat shouted, “Ten twenty five!”

It was loud enough to get Achilles’ attention, who only stared in dumb surprise as Pat smiled at him. “Right?”

“Right! But he can do better than that!” the coach started, at which Pat held up a thumb.

“He has my full support!”

And with that, Pat left, sending a quick text to Achilles’ phone.

 

_ That’s a nice time, I never thought I would see you make it twice. - Patroclus _

 

Pat had expected Achilles to be stubborn as usual, but surprisingly enough, Achilles responded almost instantly.

 

_ Everyone has a stopwatch on their phone, leave me alone. _

 

Pat huffed, leaning back in his seat and trying to think of a way to respond to it, only to chuckle a little, reaching for the familiar sensation and rewinding time until he saw the speech bubble signaling that Achilles was typing the message he had previously received.

 

_ I did not use it, Achilles. _

 

No more messages came afterwards. Pat shrugged inwardly, knowing that he had either made Achilles speechless, or made him more annoyed. Pat assumed the latter, but he decided he was done toying around...

_ For now. _

 

**_***_ **

 

It could either be a blessing or a curse, Pat decided, to have an early lecture without mandatory attendance, and it all depended on what kind of student you were. For some students, it gave them an easy excuse to not come to class and to sleep in until their next class started. But for Pat, who regularly showed up to his classes whether they were mandatory or not, it meant those early lectures had less students in attendance, which meant more attention and goodwill from the teachers. 

Pat laid his chin into his hand, stifling a yawn as he stared at the whiteboard, now slowly being filled with endless formulas and graphs. Being interested in the topic and knowing how important these lectures were didn’t make it any easier to wake up early. Pat hadn’t slept all that well; he had too many thoughts that overflowed the waking hours and spilled into the resting hours.

Next to him, Briseis studiously copied down every single note the teacher had written. Her dark curls hung in front of her face, hiding the dark circles beneath her eyes. Pat had noticed when she entered the classroom.

The teacher soon got to answering questions from the class, and Pat took it as an opportunity for some small talk. He may have never felt a strong connection with Briseis before, but she was cunning and motivated, and he respected that. “So, pulled an all-nighter then?”

“Hrmm?”

“An all-nighter, you seem tired.”

Briseis hadn’t even looked up. Pat was thrilled with the idea to take back his statement, but sometimes, it was worth a try.

“All-nighters don’t work, taking a test while you're tired is worse than being underprepared.”

Huh, another thing he wished he had heard earlier. Pat tried to think of a solution, anything to just keep the conversation going...

“Oh, I wasn’t talking tests! You mean you didn’t watch Gossip Girl all night? I know I did.”

That earned Pat a confused look, which he answered by snorting, shaking his head. “Nah, definitely talking about the studying kind, you got me.”   
  
“Just tired, Pat. That’s all.”

They were cut off by more instructions from the teacher, but Pat caught himself grinning to himself, because Briseis had definitely said those last words with a small smile on her face. He appreciated the challenge, because life went on, even if it didn’t seem that way with all that was going on.

Class finished, and as Pat left the room, his name echoed through the hallway. “Pat!” Odysseus, with his arms spread out, invited himself into Pat’s space. He wrapped an arm around his shoulder and Pat’s fight or flight instinct immediately started screaming at him, but Pat suppressed it, trying to seem as casual as ever. His previous encounter with Odysseus had… technically never happened because he rewound over it, so any questioning on that part was not possible.

“Hey Odysseus.”

“Soooooo Pat, Patrick, Patroclus, whatever. How lovely for us to meet again! Hey, really gotta hand it to you, that was a good prediction yesterday! Didn’t think you’d be able to go by the millisecond, but well, miracles do happen at Ambrosia Academy! Your new crush is the living,  _ breathing  _ proof!”

Pat tried to avoid Odysseus’ pointed gaze. The guy was as expressive as one could be, but there was something hidden in each of his words, like a walking puzzle thrilled to never be solved. Odysseus wasn’t here to make friends, Pat knew that all too well. “Uh- You mean Achilles? just a coincidence.”

“Right,  _ coincidence.  _ I’ll let ya in on a secret, Pat.”

Odysseus leaned in. Pat was unable to lean away, the arm around his shoulders now becoming a bit threatening.

“Just leave Achilles alone. He’s a pretty, hmm... _A_ _chill_ guy usually, but you’re fucking him up, you’ve seen how nervous he’s been. Don’t want that on your conscience now, do we?”

“N-Nah, I guess not.”

“Guess not? Let me make sure you’re certain of it now, shall we?” Pat felt it now, the firmness of the arm tightening around his shoulder. Odysseus was clearly making sure Pat felt cornered, and it was  _ working.  _ Pat could feel his breathing become shallow, his hand ready to reach for the pressure if it really was urgent.

“Don’t want that on your conscience, of course.”

“Right! Just lookin’ out for a friend, good we’re on the same line, Pat! Seeya!”

Odysseus had shouted the goodbye, and Pat was able to squirm out of his grasp, trying to seem as calm and collected as he could be, just to show that the threat didn’t affect him all that much. Odysseus was already walking away, his shoulder bag happily being kicked around.

 

_ Sure, just looking out for a friend. _

 

_******* _

 

The school day was long and even a little boring as it progressed. Pat didn’t come across another reason to use his powers, nor did he come across any more of Achilles’ ‘friends’.The normality seemed the oddity, and if Pat wasn't aware he possessed the power to defy time itself, he would label it as a completely normal school day.

The only abnormal thing that happened, was that Briseis continued talking to him. After their last class, she had decided to come sit next to him during a Latin lecture. It had been completely unprompted, and even caught Pat by surprise. He hadn’t expected his awkward joke to have worked, but he guessed it  _ did. _

Briseis actually turned out to be very nice. She was a bit sarcastic and often very quiet, but she made Pat feel like he belonged just that little more. It helped distract him, and if he had to guess, it did the same for Briseis, whatever had been bothering her before.

Another feedback class followed in which Pat had to show off his progress on quite a big essay. He had been working on it throughout the entire time travel ordeal; he wasn’t about to slack on his schoolwork just because of that. However, it seemed he wasn’t so on top of things like he thought, because as he sat down in front of the teacher, she immediately asked what has been distracting him lately.

“Nothing important, why?”

“Well, your writing quality has severely gone down throughout the past week, Patroclus. Your sentences don’t add up to any conclusions, and look at this,”

The teacher pointed at one of the paragraphs. Pat didn’t immediately see what she was talking about until she clarified, “you wrote practically the same thing last week, you’ve been repeating yourself lately. Please try to redo this, okay?”

“Alright.”

 

_******* _

 

Another day passed, and Pat found himself falling back into his usual schedule. That didn’t mean he’s been ignoring all that happened, oh no, it just seemed that nothing odd or interesting came his way. Achilles was nowhere to be found, and Odysseus didn’t even blink an eye in his direction if they bumped into each other in the hallways. 

Pat knew the track team had another practice later that day, but he wasn’t sure whether he should go or not. Nothing had been out of the ordinary recently.

_ Well, that wasn’t entirely true. _

Pat had been feeling increasingly more unnerved by nothing happening. It felt fake, as if whatever has been happening was purposefully being hidden from him. But that couldn’t be true. Even before Pat had insinuated himself right in the middle of Achilles’ and Hector’s entire ordeal, they weren’t exactly private about it. Hector had been threatening Achilles in the hallways, and even Odysseus had dared to threaten him about it in the middle of the busy school. Either these kids have been plain stupid about whatever they’ve been hiding, or...

_ Oh. _

Pat had completely forgotten about Hector.

What had Achilles said again?

“ _ Hector’s family practically owns most of this town, gets that assholes’ chin raised up all high, you know the kind.” _

Someone like that was dangerous. If Hector could get away with that kind of shit…

Pat really should rethink his course of action. He knew Hector wouldn’t be dumb enough to harm Achilles at practice, but...

Maybe it was best for Pat to head to their track practice anyway, just to see if he could get rid of that worry.

_ Then again,  _ Odysseus has been kinda threatening, and Pat now knew that his powers couldn’t always come to his rescue. Maybe the best plan was to rethink his actions. If he wanted to convince Achilles, maybe scheming something more convincing would help him out more.

 

**_***_ **

[**Vote here**](http://www.strawpoll.me/13837949)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This fic still needs to grow and if you enjoyed, a nice comment and some kudos are always appreciated!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sup kids! I'm back! College is kicking my ass but here I am!  
> Please enjoy this chapter of Astra, and please don't forget to vote at the end of the chapter!  
> The poll closes in 3 days.

Pat slowed his steps on the pathway of Ambrosia Academy. He’d made up his mind as he turned towards his room and away from the fields: it wasn’t safe to be near Achilles right now. If Pat really wanted to convince him, maybe something less public would have to do.

Nonetheless, he felt like he was missing out. Achilles was a talented athlete, and Pat would do just about anything to see him keep running; every step of his was a gift.

Pats room offered him just enough peace and quiet to help him make up his mind. With his newly-found powers, he had really thought he could control anything, or at least, it was a strong case of wishful thinking. Even if he couldn’t come up with a plan, he figured it was a good opportunity to get some homework done. Throughout all of this, he might as well keep his grades high.

The kitchen was quiet and still as Pat entered. It was a relief to finally take the time to make his cup of tea just right: with just a bit of honey, and no nagging flatmate complaining about how long he took to do it. Nothing worked better to calm his restless brain than a hot mug of tea.

Pat sat down on his bed, leaning with his back against the wall as he looked at the ceiling. Its weird, blotted texture always worked to bring in new ideas.

_ Achilles wasn’t going to give in all that easily, so what should he do? _

Most of Pat’s ideas thus far had formed under pressure, so how could he force it now? Which future event would be impressive to predict? The local lottery numbers?

Something like that... well, predicting lottery numbers would catch Achilles’ attention for sure, but no way Pat would actually accept that money. Although… he thought, he could definitely do with a pair of new shoes... No, let’s keep it a little normal, Pat.

Pat could text Achilles about events that were about to happen, but for that, he’d need to find him. Achilles was nowhere to be found, and Pat couldn’t convince someone he wasn’t near. So what then? Stalk him around? Write down every word of a school announcement and hope by god Achilles doesn’t think of foul play?

Pat sighed. Smaller, stupider ideas manifested after a while: maybe he’d just predict the local weather for Achilles. Sure, he might be able to become a meteorologist with that, but that wasn’t going to impress anyone, was it?

Pat took a sip of his tea. He had powers that people would kill for, but even after these few days of having them, he had yet to figure out his limits or his full powers. What could he do with it? Would he be able to change things further back in history? How far back? And would he... have to experience all those years he’d rewinded? As far as he knew, he couldn’t go forward in time any faster.

Wait, would he still age in the time he would rewind?

_ Pat! Focus! You’re supposed to be thinking about Achilles! _

Right, as if he hadn’t been doing that for the past few days.

Pat took another sip of his tea, the pressure of time still comfortably tangible in his hand. For a moment, nothing in the way of ideas popped into his head. He needed to find a way to convince Achilles, just one, otherwise all of this would have been a waste of time.

He stared at the cup in his hand now. He carefully set it down on the floor as he stood up, trying to force an idea into his head, but nothing came from it. At least nothing good, nothing... perfect.

Pat took his phone out, opening his text conversation with Achilles. He hadn’t sent anything, and Pat couldn’t even see whether or not he’d been on the app recently. For all he knew, Achilles had blocked him.

 

**_***_ **

 

The perfect idea came to Pat just as he was getting ready for bed. 

Pat knew he could keep things on him while he rewound time if he really tried, like he had done with Achilles’ phone number. Maybe...

_ If he really tried, could he stay in the same place at a different time? _

Pat put down his toothbrush, and walked back into the kitchen where he previously heard his flatmates walking around. He made sure he was presentable, and then quietly sat down in a corner of the furthest couch of the communal space. Hopefully, it would be enough for him to go unnoticed.

His hand shook as it reached for the pressure, firmly pulling it as his vision blurred. Nothing changed for a while - the lights turned off since he had turned them on before, but then, the light finally went on again. It was like being in an old movie tape, the familiar sight of his flatmate messing around in his kitchen, attempting to make a microwave meal...

Pat let go, and instantly his vision became clear again, together with an annoying pain knocking against his temples. Ouch.

But there he was, hunched down on the old leather sofa of their communal space, his flatmate cursing a little as he seemed to ‘finally’ notice Pat on the couch.

“Holy fuck Pat! You scared the shit outta me. How long have you been sitting there?”

Pat acted fast, shrugging as he gave his flatmate an innocent smile. “Dunno, fifteen minutes?”

“Fuck man, coulda warned me before I started humming CRJ.”

“I’ll leave you to your singing then, goodnight.”

“Night.”

Pat left the room, a quick skip in his trod as he rushed toward his room.

Pat tried turning the knob of his door, cursing to himself.

_ Shit, he had locked it earlier. _

Well, it wasn’t all that bad to rewind, he guessed. It let him have a bit of a longer day, right?

Pat reached for the pressure again, rewinding until he felt the weight of his keys in his back pockets, sighing a little. He had arrived at his apartment a good four hours ago, and indeed, as he entered his apartment again, it was still lit by the setting sun.

He should really start thinking before he rewound, but then again, it had been a very good lesson.

 

**_***_ **

 

It always seemed a lot easier to wake up when you have a particular task at hand. That, and Pat had been able to sleep a few extra hours due to that four-hour rewinding he’d done. Really, though, he just wanted to convince himself that his mistake had been anything but dumb. 

Classes didn’t start until 10 AM, and as Pat made his way to the main building, he wondered where Achilles’ classes would be. Pat may have been bold recently, but going as far as figuring out Achilles’ schedule crossed a line even for him.

He decided to pay some more attention to his surroundings. Maybe he would even come across Achilles: they usually both had classes in the main building, considering they were in some of the more popular majors. Pat, however, had apparently not been paying attention all too well, because when an arm nudged his side, he jumped, looking right into the smiling face of Briseis.

“Morning Pat! Binged a bit too much again?”

Pat collected himself, scoffing a little in embarrassment. 

“Nah, I slept a full ten hours last night, guess I was just daydreaming a little.”

Briseis was quiet as they proceeded to head to their physics classroom, her hands comfortably resting in her denim jacket. She was humming a small tune, and only broke their silence as they walked into the classroom.

“This is your first class, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I already had a class, I thought maybe I had just never noticed you in there, but everyone was talking about you, I think?”

Pat felt something turn in his stomach. Why were people talking about him? What had he done that could have piqued the attention of all their classmates?

“Why?”

Briseis shrugged, turning towards the front of the class where the teacher had just set their bag down, ready to start the class. “Let’s continue this conversation at a different time.”

Pat always appreciated someone who respected rules and etiquette in the classrooms, but considering this was about him, he wasn’t all that happy that Briseis would rather tell him after class. That meant an  _ entire  _ class of him worrying about it, holy shit. He didn’t even consider turning back time, knowing full well that he was going to need his powers at their peak later on. He didn’t want to risk losing it like he’d had previously.

Class was boring. Pat didn’t attempt to do anything out of the ordinary, and the topic was alright, but nothing special. It was definitely not enough to keep Pat’s mind off whatever Briseis would tell him when class ended.

Finally, the school bell rang. Pat immediately tapped Briseis on her shoulder, giving her a nervous smile, at which she chuckled. “Alright, let’s go to the canteen.”

 

**_***_ **

 

“Your name is Patroclus, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Hm, Odysseus and Achilles were talking about you. Well...  _ Talking  _ is a big word. Odysseus just kinda bothered Achilles the entire time, that’s all.”

Patroclus immediately knew he had made the right decision to become friends with Briseis. 

“Wait, so you had class with Achilles? When?”

“Oh, I always have Music Class with him at 8:30, you know, in the Auditorium in the front.”

“Right.”

Pat knew what he had to do now. He smiled at Briseis. “Thanks, Bri, you’ve been a huge help.”

“Huh, okay.”

He stood up from the canteen bench, waving a confused Briseis goodbye as he made his way to the large auditorium in the main building. He didn’t have classes in there all that often, but he knew the back row of seats would stay vacant: teachers always asked students to sit near the front.

_ And that was all the information he needed. _

Pat checked the classroom through its small windowed entrance, quietly opening it as he rushed inside. It was empty, and  _ everything was perfect.  _ The auditorium consisted of three long columns of seats, which all gradually tilted downwards to the stage in the middle, which showcased a large black piano at its center. The three seating areas were separated by stairs leading to it. Pat took a spot in the back, concentrating for a moment. This was either going to go really well, or horribly wrong.

He really hoped it wasn’t going to be the latter.

Pat reached for the pressure in front of him, and with a gentle tug, his vision started to blur. It was like before, looking like he was rewinding a movie tape. Pat saw classes come and go around him, and before he knew it, he could recognize a few familiar faces in the blurry crowd. He let go, and as time suddenly flowed normally again, Pat had to take a deep breath. Nausea washed over him.

That had asked  _ a lot  _ of his body. It took him about a full minute before he even dared to move his head, looking around the classroom.

It was around 9:30, only 15 minutes until the end of class. When Pat scanned the crowd, he found the familiar shape of Briseis, calmly chatting with some other girls in her classroom.

Then he saw Achilles and Odysseus together somewhere on the side rows. Achilles was very quiet, but Odysseus was clearly not, making grand gestures as he talked on and on. Pat didn’t know for sure how long they had talked about him, but that wasn’t why he was there anyway.

He grabbed his phone, texting Achilles.

_ I should have definitely taken music class, this is pretty fun. _

Luckily, the teacher didn’t catch Achilles checking his phone, and Pat smiled at the way Achilles’ shoulders raised.

Pat knew it wouldn’t be all that special for Pat to be in this room. He could have just come in at a later time, right? Yeah, he could have, if the room didn’t seem to resemble an echo chamber and amplify every single sound that passed through. Even the smallest creak of the folding seats would easily be heard. The large door, the sitting down, even the footsteps through the auditorium would have announced Pat’s arrival.

_ And Achilles would have noticed him coming in, right? _

Pat shifted a little in his seat, announcing his presence by its protesting creak. He saw Achilles glance back at him, gave him an innocent smile, and Achilles instantly turn back to Odysseus again.

“Hey, you okay?” Pat heard Odysseus say. His voice didn’t sound all that concerned.

Pat couldn’t hear Achilles’ answer, sighing a little.

Achilles didn’t turn around anymore, and with the way his shoulders were hunched for the next fifteen minutes, Pat knew better than to push his boundaries even further.

So he just sat there, calmly regarding the teacher’s explanation on famous musicians as he waited out the rest of class.

Then, something odd happened.

Pat received a text back from Achilles.

_ Leave the class _

_ Now. _

Oh shit.

Pat didn’t see it as a threat. Actually, Achilles’ texts almost seemed like a warning. Pat knew better than to ignore it, so he stood up the instant the school bell rang and rushed to the exit.

“It was about damn time.” Pat tensed when he heard Odysseus stand up as well. Odysseus catching sight of Pat would be enough to put him in danger yet again, and he really didn’t want to know the consequences of that.

Pat was ready to rewind, but just as he reached for the pressure, he saw Odysseus halt in the corner of his eye. “Shit, hold on, look at this!”

_ Achilles was distracting him. Why? _

Pat took the chance while he had it, rushing outside and hiding in the crowd before he could get caught. That was a close call, maybe a bit too close for his liking.

Pat did his best to calm himself down. Just because he knew that-

His thought process was interrupted by a hand touching his shoulder.

“Morning Pat! Binged a bit too much again?”

Pat rolled his shoulders, and then smiled kindly at Briseis, visibly glad that she didn’t seem to have noticed him sitting in on her morning class. “Morning Bri, just daydreaming.”

 

**_***_ **

  
  


Nothing changed after that. Pat still had lunch with Briseis, and still had a boring chemistry class to attend just before that. The only thing that really changed, was Pat’s interest in Odysseus and Achilles talking about him during that class.

“... But did you hear what they were saying about me?”

“Sorry, I was too far away, but it seemed that Odysseus was very interested in what Achilles had to say about you.”

That seemed about right. Pat was still confused on whether or not Odysseus had a good reason for it, or if he was planning something more sinister.

“Hm, you never know, maybe Achilles just has a major crush on me.” Briseis almost choked on her sandwich when Pat joked it.

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!” he snapped. Briseis laughed.

“Sure buddy, I’m sure mister Goldilocks is just really into you.”

 

**_***_ **

 

Pat hoisted his backpack on his shoulders as the bell rang, signaling the end of his last class of the day. Briseis, who had been very talkative and was increasingly becoming more comfortable with Pat, wished him a good day before rushing out of class. To his surprise, Chryseis, whom he hadn’t talked to recently, followed her, not even batting an eye at him when she passed.

Pat walked along the clay gravel road once again, the campus less colourful than it had seemed a week ago. Pat had never sat on the small patch of sunny grass again after that incident, and as he walked past the red Oak tree in the center, all he could do was look at it with worry. A place symbolic of opportunity for so many students now seemed like it had a thunderstorm looming over it.

Pat could hear his flatmates rummaging around the kitchen, and stopped in for a quick snack before he made his way into his dorm room. There were so many questions he needed answers to, and after today, he only had more questions.

A knock on the door interrupted Pat’s planned sulking hour. His flatmates probably needed another garbage bag, or probably needed help cleaning something up. He huffed, standing up from his bed and opening the door, prepared to mock-complain at his flatmates.

“What did you guys do this time-”

The door was immediately shoved open, a blur of red forcing his way inside while Pat looked on in surprise. He didn’t even have time to respond, simply standing there with his lips parted as Achilles locked the door.

Pat had expected Achilles to be angry yet again, but to his surprise, his expression was stern, and terrifyingly serious.

“Alright, we need to talk.”

 

**_***_ **

 

Pat felt awkward as he cleaned up some discarded clothes, casually kicking them into a heap between his bed and his closet. His room was humble - he didn’t have more than one seat, so Pat offered it to Achilles, simply sitting on his bed. 

“So, let’s talk.”

Achilles was quiet. Pat didn’t know if the background noise of his flatmates’ loud chatting from the kitchen was enough to make the silence less awkward. He scratched his hand a little, stopping the moment he saw that Achilles was watching him carefully. “Right, uh...”

Achilles didn’t respond, seated in Pat’s chair with his arms crossed, the same serious look on his face. Pat didn’t know what he was waiting for. 

Pat’s phone chimed, and he grabbed it after a few seconds. If Achilles wasn’t going to talk, he might as well distract himself a little, right?

“How did you get my phone number?”

“Huh?”   
“How did you get my number, did you break into some database? Did you get it from a classmate?”

“Oh, Odysseus gave it to me.”

It was the truth.

Achilles raised an eyebrow. “That’s a lie, Odysseus doesn’t like you.”

“Oh yeah, it was before that.”

“He would have mentioned that when I was complaining about it.”

Pat grew more sure of himself. Maybe it was finally time to show Achilles what he was dealing with here.

“I do have an explanation for it, I just feel like you wouldn’t like the truth.”

“And the truth is...?”

Pat offered his phone out to Achilles, showing him the texts again.

Pat explained the entire thing to Achilles, he even told him casually that he didn’t have to enter the number into his phone again after rewinding. It had stayed there.

“Huh.” Achilles did not seem impressed with the story, handing his phone back to Pat.

“How did you get in my classroom this morning?”

There Pat went again, thoroughly explaining the way he managed to get into the room, even proudly telling him he had done the same trick with his flatmate a few days before.

“That’s a little creepy if it’s true.”

“Just used it those two times, nowhere else.”

“I can’t check you on that.”

Achilles had a point. Pat would be able to do a lot of things without anyone ever finding out. The thought of it happening to him was making him uncomfortable.

“You’re right, You can’t, I guess you just gotta trust me on that.”

Achilles narrowed his eyes a little, leaning forward in his seat as he kept staring at Pat, still clearly trying to figure something out about him.

“Prove it.”

“Prove what?”

“That you can do it, that you can change time.”

Pat hadn’t expected that Achilles would give him a second chance so soon. In fact, he’d seemed ready to rush out the door and call the police on Pat for being creepy.

“Alright, uhhh...”

Pat stood up, rummaging through his notebook and ripping out a piece of paper, handing it to Achilles together with a pen. 

“Write down five numbers for me between one and one hundred, I’ll guess them for you.”

Pat sat further back on the bed, making sure Achilles didn’t think he was cheating. Then, Achilles put the pen down.  “Okay, what numbers did I write?”

Pat hadn’t really thought this through, had he? He had no idea until he would ask Achilles.

“Alright, this is gonna sound dumb but, I need to see them first.”

“Right,”

Achilles unfolded the piece of paper, and there they were, five different numbers.

**88 21 25 18 71**

That was all he needed to know.

Pat reached out his hand. 

“What are you doing?” Achilles asked, but Pat ignored it by reaching out for the pressure, calmly tugging it. The room only briefly turned blurry, up until the point when Achilles had asked him what numbers.

Pat let go, and had to endure Achilles repeating the same sentence again with slight disdain in his voice. It was almost like Achilles had come here only to prove that Pat was a fraud, and instead he was just some creepy stalker.

“Eighty eight, twenty one, twenty five, eighteen, and seventy one.”

Achilles opened the paper, scoffing when they showed the exact same numbers.    
“Alright, well done.”

Pat couldn’t help but have a small smile on his face, which felt out of place. Achilles didn’t seem all that fazed by it.

“Alright, let me think of something.”

“Hm?”

“Something for you to do, let’s see if you can do it.”

Alright, Pat could do that.

Achilles seemed to come up with an idea quite quickly. He glanced at Pat again before grabbing a mug from the small desk, and before Pat could even exclaim a warning, it was thrown harshly against the wall he had been leaning against. It smashed into a million pieces and scattered all over his bed sheets. “What the fuck!”

“Didn’t expect that,  _ did you?” _

Pat glared at Achilles, who seemed amused by it. It was clearly a small payback for freaking him out earlier.

Pat stood up, moving to stand right next to Achilles, and then reached out his hand, rewinding as quickly as he could. He knew just the right way to stop Achilles’ payback.

He stopped just at the point when Achilles had grabbed the mug. Pat made sure he was ready, and then let go of ‘time.’ He reached for the mug just before he was about to throw it, and snatched it away. “Nuh-uh, let’s not.”

Achilles turned around instantly, glancing at the bed and then at Pat in shock. Pat took a look at his bed as well, and suddenly realized why Achilles was so surprised. Pat had been sitting there just moments ago: it must have been odd to have someone appear right next to you out of nowhere.

“ _ Holy shit.” _

Achilles stood up from his chair so quickly that the sheer speed of it knocked it over. Pat had to set down the mug, because moments later, Achilles had both his hands pressed on Pat’s shoulders.

“Patroclus, I need to be absolutely fucking clear with you, if this is a joke, if this is  _ anything  _ but the real deal-”

“Well, it’s the real deal.”

“Well, if it’s  _ not,  _ we’re both dead, you get that?”

Pat felt the firmness at which Achilles was gripping his shoulders, saw the stern look in his eyes turn into something far scarier. Achilles was still very,  _ very  _ afraid. Pat still didn’t understand why.

“Hector saw you, he knows you know shit, that’s enough for him.”

Pat swallowed thickly. He really had thrown himself into a situation he had no knowledge of. Suddenly, he regretted doing it. Had there been a way to keep himself out of this mess?

“And he’s dangerous?”

“ _ Very.” _

Achilles let go of him, sitting down on Pat’s bed now that the chair was thrown on its side. It clearly wasn’t the time to clean up your shit, huh?

“Patroclus, if everything you claimed is real, then...”

Pat nodded, knowing what Achilles was going to say.

_ Yes, you died. _

Achilles stared at Pat dumbfounded, then glanced away for a moment, muttering a few curses under his breath. 

“That fucking spoiled brat.”

Pat quickly set the chair back up again, trying to think of a way to calm Achilles down. Whatever had been weighing heavily on his shoulders only seemed to have gotten worse with the realization that he was actually in mortal danger.

“Hey, would you like some tea?”

Achilles regarded him again, taking a few seconds before he responded. “Sure, if it isn’t too much trouble.”

“It’s the least I can do, huh? I’ll get it from the kitchen, you can stay here.”

 

**_***_ **

 

It only took Pat two minutes to prepare the tea, but that already felt too long. He made sloppy mistakes: he accidentally let the tea bag drip onto the counter, and at one point even bumped into one of his flatmates who was on his way to grab a beer. Pat didn’t have high hopes for sleeping well throughout the night, but that was alright. 

He returned to his bedroom with two steaming mugs of tea in his hands, setting one down on his bedside table for Achilles. Pat sat down on the chair, giving him some time.

Achilles had come here to do more than just threaten Pat again, hadn’t he?

“Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Yeah, well, I guess I need your help.”

“Right, do you want me to get them off your back then? Is that it?”

Pat quickly decided to stare into his cup of tea when Achilles raised an eyebrow at him. Alright, dumb question, maybe he should just allow Achilles to explain everything.

“You haven’t been at this school for very long, have you?”

“Came here about two weeks ago, got here on a scholarship.”

“Right.”

Achilles grabbed his phone, signing for Pat to wait, and then brought up Ambrosia Academy’s website. He showed its sponsors proudly.

“Ambrosia Academy is, well, you know what it is. It’s a prestigious school, very chin-high and all, you’ve noticed this already.”

“I wouldn’t have moved so far away from my parents just to go to a regular school no.”

“Hm…”

Achilles was still scrolling through the school’s website, and then even looked into a few articles, but didn’t seem all that satisfied with what he found.

“This is gonna sound like I’m reaching, so please be patient, but...”

Achilles handed Pat his phone: it was a picture of him dated back to about a year ago. There he was, dressed in the jersey of Ambrosia Academy’s football team, surrounded by Hector, Odysseus, Chryseis... and a few unfamiliar faces. 

A girl around their age caught his attention. Her eyes were a deep blue, her tan skin covered in freckles, and her blonde hair like ribbons, wavy as they covered her shoulders. She was stunning. It took Pat a moment to even get himself to focus on the other unfamiliar faces in the crowd, but before he could, Achilles spoke.

“That’s Helen, you don’t recognize her, do you?”

“I do not, no.”

Achilles showed Pat another picture. This time, it was of a few of his classmates, all wearing white shirts with a picture of Helen on them. Their smiles seemed more forced, like the picture had been taken at a very inopportune time. 

“A few days after this picture was taken, Helen did not attend any more classes. Her parents even filed a missing person report for her that same day, she had completely disappeared.”

_ Holy shit. _

Achilles went back the school’s website, and Pat could see the way he ground his teeth together. “The Academy barely paid any attention to it, in fact...”

Achilles looked up Helen’s name in the school archives of publications.

**Your search did not match any documents**

“There were tons of publications, even in the local news, but after a while, they all just disappeared.”

Pat pursed his lips. With all he had learned in the past weeks, this didn’t feel like a mistake or a simple coincidence. He looked at the picture of Helen again, and so did Achilles. 

“I’m sorry, that all sounds so horrible.”

“It is, yeah.”

“So, why is this so important?”

Achilles scrolled through his phone again, showing Pat a Facebook announcement of a party. The date was from a Friday about a week ago, the one before he got his powers.

“Ambrosia Academy has its own student committee, a small group of students who like to organize events, and usually poll student satisfaction. We call them Olympos, I used to be in it, Chryseis is in it, Odysseus, Hector, even Helen used to be in it...”

Achilles sighed. “The weekend before all of... this... happened, I witnessed something I don’t think I was supposed to see.”

_ Well, this was about to get interesting. _

“We usually hold parties in the PE hall of the school, it’s a big event, most students show up, including all the organizers. I tend to not go as often, but I was encouraged to go, due to it being some sort of team building event, y’know.”

Pat found that a bit curious, because he had always expected Achilles to be a social creature, with a tendency to seek out as much attention as he could. He would get away with it too: his background in athletics and his appearances were a good formula for popularity.

“I ended up leaving halfway through, things became a bit uncomfortable, and on my way out... Well... I saw a group of guys surrounding someone, I couldn’t really see who it was. It was a girl though, and she was... really out of it.”

Pat felt a shiver go down his back. This story was getting darker by the second, and by the sound of it, these guys had something to hide.

“So I stepped in, I...”

Achilles pointedly stared down at the floor. His hands, still leaning on his knees, were now balled up into fists. 

“It was dark, I couldn’t see much, I tried to get between them, but I was outnumbered. I was scared away, and by the time I got help, they were already gone, and so was the girl.”

Pat let out a deep breath, having completely forgotten to breathe. It all made a lot more sense now. Why Achilles was being threatened, why everything these guys did seemed to go unnoticed. Achilles had even sounded a bit hesitant in telling his story, somewhat ashamed, as if one person could have been expected to stop all of that.

“So what you’re saying is... You think there’s a connection between Helen and this.”

“I wish there wasn’t, but I’m afraid there is. Me simply witnessing that shit last weekend at the party clearly isn’t worth my life.”

Achilles was right, it really did seem like they were overreacting.

Silence fell over them again. It had been a tense conversation, that was for sure, and Pat didn’t know how he could do anything to help from here. Sure, he had rewind powers, but the reach of it was… limited, to say the least.

“So, how do I fit into this story?”

“Well Pat, you can time-travel, I think it’s pretty clear what I’m asking of you.”

Right, Pat had feared it would come to that, biting his bottom lip in hesitation. How could he possibly tell Achilles how limited his powers were? How tough it was for him to rewind a few hours, let alone entire weeks, or even years?

“I need you to go back in time to the party and help me out, find out who the girl is, gather evidence.”

_ Right. _

Pat felt his mouth go dry, trying to come up with the right words. After all the time it took him to convince Achilles, it would be foolish to admit he couldn’t time travel as far as he wanted.

However, wouldn’t it be worse to lie? Achilles asked something very big of him when Pat had simply offered aid and protection, nothing so… big.

_ What should he do? _

**_***_ **

[***VOTE HERE***](http://www.strawpoll.me/14386871)

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sup,  
> As much as I have enjoyed writing this fic in the past, I sure as hell am twice as excited for the writing that lies in my future!  
> I hope you'll enjoy the chapter, **don't forget to vote at the end of it!**

Pat was quiet for longer than what seemed acceptable for Achilles, whose smile had slowly faded as he tried to find the right words. Pat knew getting it over with quickly was better than needlessly torturing Achilles with secrecy. Now that he’d gotten to a point where Achilles finally trusted him, Pat knew he couldn’t take that trust for granted.

“I-I’m sorry.”

Pat squeaked it out, wishing he could sound more sure of himself as he avoided Achilles’ gaze.

“What?”

“It takes me a lot of effort to travel back a few hours, and it’s usually followed by really painful headaches. I don’t think I would be able to travel back that far.”

Pat’s lips folded over the last word as he bit his bottom lip, waiting for a response from Achilles…

Which never came. Pat forced himself to look up, just to see what was taking Achilles to long to voice his inevitable disappointment. Instead, what he found was a thin-lipped smile on Achilles’ face. It had no resemblance to the Achilles from the pictures, though. This smile seemed to lack emotion.

“So that’s it, then. All these efforts to convince me of everything you can do, and it turns out to be useless to me.” It didn’t sound accusatory like Pat had expected. In fact, it seemed like an emotionless statement. Pat decided to simply nod in confirmation. Yes, his powers were useless for the goals Achilles wanted to reach.

“I’m sorry.”

Pat said it again, not sure how he could show Achilles how sincerely sorry he was. If he could, he would have done it without hesitation - save the unknown victim, save Helen, save everyone who had ever gotten entangled in this mess.

“It’s… It’s alright, Pat,” Achilles forced out, and Pat noticed he wasn’t the only one biting his lip. “All the problems I have were never caused by you. In fact, if you hadn’t been there for me, I wouldn’t even have a second chance to make things right.”

“That doesn’t make it a good thing,” Pat admitted, knowing full well that Achilles had every right to be angry with him. Out of all the moments Achilles had become unreasonably angry towards him, Pat had hoped this would be one of them. Somehow, this version of Achilles was even worse. Pat played with his fingers, feeling the pressure of time thinly caressing his hand. He could try again if he really wanted to, but…

_I guess you just gotta trust me on that._

Manipulating his way through this conversation with Achilles seemed like cheating. Pat knew there was no good way to break the news to Achilles, and lying? Not a chance in the world, because he knew the consequences would be even worse in the long run.

“Yeah, doesn’t make it a good thing, but I guess there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Achilles stood up, making his way towards the door. “I’m gonna go now. I don’t think I’m safe in the dorms, y’know.”

Yeah, with all that was going on, it surprised Pat that he hadn’t become more of a target for Olympos, considering he was quite the easy target.

“I’m really sorry, Achilles.”

Pat said it again, like he could change Achilles’ mood with another apology. Of course he couldn’t; Achilles’ problem was big, and even if Pat had been able to travel so far back in time, it still would have been a challenge for him to find the girl in question. This was bigger than either of them.

“Goodbye.”

The lock clicked behind Achilles as he closed the door, and Pat listened to his footsteps in complete silence, not sure where his line of thought should go first. He knew the truth was usually the toughest to tell, but he wondered how this would ever better him as a person in the future.

 

_******* _

 

Dark fibers began turning and twisting in his mind, the flashing lights of a party banging through his head like sounds, and only becoming louder. It swallowed him, the sensation of falling doing nothing to his body, even if Pat wished to tense up.

And then, in the distance, a voice. The soothing depth of it doing nothing to ease his tense mind, and the language like nothing he had ever heard. It sounded like a question, repeated over and over again, but no answers came.

A pressure was felt on Pat’s hand, and as he finally felt his arm move to reach for it, everything became bright again.

 

_******* _

 

The loud buzz of his cell phone made Pat jump, instantly awake as he reached for it on his night stand. He grabbed thin air, and just as he tried again, he felt the same vibration, this time settled on a spot against his chest.

Suddenly, the light around him made a lot of sense, and so did the bitter taste in his mouth. Pat checked the time on his phone as he grabbed it from beneath his chest, then lifted his head from his pillow to glance at the clock, which brightly showed the time as 03:05 AM.

Shit, he had fallen asleep, hadn’t he?

Pat sat up, unlocking his phone to check whatever message had woken him up, only to find two texts from Achilles. It took him a moment and a rub in the eyes for Pat to realize Achilles had sent him some of those pictures he’d shown him earlier. The odd thing he noticed, however, was they were all very blurry and unfocused. Achilles must have been awake, for the last picture had only been sent five minutes ago.

Pat stood up from his bed, eager to brush his teeth and get that awful taste out of his mouth, completely ignoring the blurry photos for now.

It took a drowsy minute or so before Pat returned, ready to throw himself into bed and fall asleep again.

_Well, that was what he had planned. Instead, something caught his eye._

On the corner of his nightstand, where his phone was still unlocked to the same pictures Achilles had sent him, Pat noticed that their blurriness had nothing to do with the quality of the photos. Instead, the blurriness was covering the phone, like a fog that wouldn’t pass. An odd realization came to Pat, and as he tried to wrap his mind around it, he carefully picked up the phone, this time trying to reach for the odd pressure of time he had felt plenty of times before.

And before he knew it, the blurriness of the photos disappeared, leaving him with a sharp group photo displaying all of Olympos’ members.

Pat startled as he was blinded by a bright light. He tried to gather himself after being completely caught off-guard, but Pat lost his footing, falling backwards onto the damp...

Grass?

 

_******* _

 

The light disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, and as Pat tried figuring out what had just happened, he heard the loud chattering of a group nearby, who all seemed huddled around a smartphone.

“Ah, would you look at that, Helen _can_ look bad in a photograph!” Pat recognized Odysseus’ teasing voice almost instantly.

“You’re kidding! Oh Odi, don’t be silly!” A very unfamiliar voice chirped back to Odysseus’ teasing, and as Pat stared more closely at the group, he saw a slightly shorter girl face to face with Odysseus, her beautiful blonde curls swaying about as she jumped for the phone in Odysseus’ hand. Pat recognized her soft features, her smile so radiant that Pat half-expected it would light up the grass field, and right next to her…

Stood Achilles, wearing a varsity jacket and laughing with the others. For once, Pat got to see him smile, really smile, and it suddenly occurred to Pat that he’d never seen that smile in real life. Achilles was always too annoyed or too worried to lower his guard, what a _pity_.

The sound of a rhythmic beat interrupted Helen and Odysseus’ playful fighting, and Pat only now realized they were hanging outside near the PE hall, the doors of it open and inviting. “Oh my god, they’ve already started the fucking music? Are you kidding?”

Every single student on the field made their way to the doors of the PE hall, as if the dulled music inside was a siren’s call. Pat did his best to determine the situation. How had he ended up here? How had he ended up on the open field of Ambrosia Academy, completely wide awake and present in…

What could only be the past, right?

Pat never thought he would see Helen in person. After all that Achilles had told him about this night, she was likely either permanently missing, or permanently…

Well, everyone got the gist of it.

The only reasonable explanation was perhaps as ridiculous as it got. Pat had travelled all the way back to a year ago, just a few hours before Helen went missing.

Pat had just told Achilles he was unable to travel back just one week in time to gather evidence at that party, but surely this would be something just as good, if not better, to do for Achilles, right?

Brushing grass off his jeans, Pat made his way to the PE hall, forever thankful that he had fallen asleep without changing first. At least he looked presentable.

 

_******* _

 

Pat wasn’t someone who really enjoyed parties. He was a simple person, never daring to go to parties on his own, and never fond of celebrations without purpose. Going to a party simply to see how the night would develop? No, definitely not his thing.

But now, armed with his powers of time travel and a goal in mind, Pat was more confident than ever. It clearly showed - no one considered him to be out of place.

Well, all until Pat made his way to the table situated in front of the main hall, where two disinterested students casually asked for his entrance ticket.

Well, shit.

Pat wasn’t even well-known in the present, let alone in a past he hadn’t been a part of yet. He really had no way of getting in legitimately, and sure as hell had no one to ask for help without making an absolute fool out of himself. He glanced past the table, and watched Achilles, now coatless, slip in with the crew. An enormous applause roared through the PE hall while Pat was still left outside.

“Excuse me? Hello? Do you have a ticket or not?”

“Uhhh...”

Pat could only think of one way to get through, and he knew the guy at the table would ruin it if he didn’t act quick.

Without thinking twice, Pat rushed past the table into the changing rooms, the annoyed sounds from the ‘gatekeepers’ quickly left behind and replaced by the heavy sound of footsteps following him down the hallway. Pat turned left, then right, then risked it all on a closed door which, luckily, opened to reveal the guys’ changing room, and with it, a small toilet cubicle that he quickly locked behind his back. Just in time, as Pat witnessed the doorknob twist and turn. “For fuck’s sake dude, just pay for your ticket!”

With what money?

With a reach for the pressure and a second of blurred vision came a long silence, the movements outside having completely disappeared. If Pat was correct, he had more or less teleported himself into the party.

Pat unlocked the door, took a brief look outside to see whether the coast was clear, and moved his way to the PE hall before anyone could call him out. He was sure the crowd around him would be enough of a cover for no one to think he was uninvited.

The crowd of students roared as the presenter hyped them up for the DJ’s music, the DJ in question being a kid around their age with an impressive setup. Pat didn’t recognize him, but did recognize Helen, who excitedly skipped her way up to the front. If Pat was right, then this had been the exact moment he’d locked himself in the men’s toilet to escape the ‘gatekeeper.’

Helen, radiant in the spotlights, turned to the audience with the microphone. “Evening, everybody! Are you all ready for _the_ party of the year? Did Olympos do a great job?”

Pat felt his ears complain as the crowd cheered back, ready to start the night.

“Well then what are we waiting for? Let’s dance!”

The music started, and with it, the spotlight on Helen disappeared. Pat immediately lost her in the crowd, but luckily, Odysseus was a tall guy. Pat followed his figure as he made his way through the dancing crowd, sometimes spotting a few familiar faces along the way. Luckily, most of them didn’t recognize him. Pat had never done something of this magnitude before, and if a small change in a fifteen minute time-jump could negatively affect the present, he couldn’t be sure that the smallest change this far back in time wouldn’t result in something absolutely disastrous. Pat tried not to think about it too much, and made sure he constantly had his eyes on the Olympos group. With it, however, came the risk of being discovered, the risk of Achilles seeing him.

_Then again, what was his plan?_

Pat caught himself staring at Achilles for a little longer than usual. His mind just couldn’t fathom the changes he had undergone in a year. This Achilles’ face was stuck in a constant smile, mostly when talking to Helen, and he seemed genuinely _happy._

The Achilles in the present had always seemed genuine to him, normal; however, now that Pat saw what Achilles could be, it became clear that present Achilles was a bleak copy of the version he was witnessing now.

That didn’t sit right with him.

Pat stepped forward, the Olympos group’s eyes falling on him as he calmly passed Odysseus, Cryseis, and some unfamiliar faces. One of them glared at Pat, as if he were skipping a queue. Pat ignored him especially.

There was Helen, her smile directed at Achilles, her finger playfully poking his side. “C’mon Chilli! ONE dance won’t ruin your reputation! Besides, I heard we’re gonna be prom king and queen in a few weeks!”

“What, and Hector didn’t pay his way to the crown again?”

“E-Excuse me.”

Achilles and Helen’s eyes fell on Pat, and to Pat’s surprise, they both smiled at him almost instantly. After spending his first week as a stranger at Ambrosia Academy, he hadn’t gotten many smiles outside of the welcome committee. “Hey stranger, I can’t say I’ve seen you before?” Helen chirped as she turned herself to  face him, brushing a lock of hair off her shoulders. Achilles, clearly in a playful mood, blew at Helen’s hair, making it a bit of a mess again.

“Ignore him, he can’t handle sugar.”

Pat tried finding the words, anything that would solve all the issues the Achilles of the present had told him about, but nothing went past his lips. Even if he could explain the threat that hung over Helen’s head, how much time would he need to convince her that it was serious.

Maybe this was the wrong choice. Pat glanced at his hands, passing it off as shyness, and felt the familiar pressure of time surrounding his hands. He could still fix this small mistake and pass it off as if he had never encountered Achilles in the first place. Maybe he could simply get through the night, find clues, find information on the background of Helen’s disappearance, and find the people who may have done it again exactly a year after the party he was currently at. Maybe he could heal whatever had been done, rather than stop it from happening.

Pat heard a small amused scoff from Achilles, who took a step closer to him. “Are you okay? Can I help you?”

_Achilles had seemed so happy though._ What if this was his only opportunity to fix things? Wouldn’t Achilles want Helen alive and well?

_******* _

[***VOTE HERE***](http://www.strawpoll.me/15032463)

**Author's Note:**

> 'You know, when i hear something is inspired by something, i never start reading.' -Notvictor a while ago, which is why i am writing my inspiration riiiiight at the end-notes!  
>   
> This fic, but not its plot, is heavily inspired by Life is Strange, which is a wonderful game you should all play.  
> Have any questions? Comments? [you can find me here!](http://achilltatos.tumblr.com)


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